Just curious. In stuff like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity etc.. you've got evil being able to do all this supernatural stuff. The people facing them are always just regular people with no idea what's going on. How come there's never a force of good that can do stuff too?
shareWhat would you call Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Captain America, Iron-man, etc?
shareMy opinion is that God is so much more powerful than Satan that a movie would only last about 10 minutes if it portrayed the battle accurately.
Death lives in the Vault of Horror!
I "hate" your avatar, by the way. Scared the crap out of me when I first saw it on the newspaper miniature "one-sheet" as a 7-year-old.
shareI was thinking that myself. But evil usually picks people who have a weakness that can be exploited. Strong people fight back, they don't ignore signs of trouble. They believe evil exist.
If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world
Have you seen the Exorcist? It's named after the force for good and they know exactly what's going on. Good also wins.
There are also plenty of TV shows and movies where "good" can do all kinds of supernatural stuff.
The exorcist is an example of what I'm talking about. The force of good gets wiped out. I wouldn't call that a win. They're also fragile and normal, while the evil is levitating around the room. The good that the priests were fighting for doesn't make an appearance.
shareThe force for good doesn't get wiped out. The priest convinces the demon to go into him instead and then he throws himself out the window to kill himself so the demon no longer has a host. That's a win.
shareTwo priests dead just to stop one demon. That's a win? That's an incredible cost that the good side has to sacrifice.
shareYes it is, but they still stopped it. That's the difference between the good guys and the bad guys - bad guys are willing to sacrifice others while the good guys are willing to sacrifice themselves.
One movie in particular that sticks out to me where the dynamic is somewhat reverse is The Reaping. It's also a religion based movie and trust me, the bad guys aren't the ones with all the cool supernatural stuff.
You're right, it is about the sacrifice when good is fighting evil. It appears as a lost to some but it isn't. Evil loses a foothold, and that's the challenge to God. It's not about how many, but I will never lose if I play.
If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world
Well of course the cost is considerable. It's a demon we're talking about, not fruit gone bad.
I am always amazed at how weak demons are. If one looks at a demon as once having been angels, they would be as strong as an angel. Some angels laid siege to entire cities. 2 Priests for 1 demon sounds to me as if the demon was nearly impotent. :)
Well of course the cost is considerable. It's a demon we're talking about, not fruit gone bad.
I am always amazed at how weak demons are. If one looks at a demon as once having been angels, they would be as strong as an angel. Some angels laid siege to entire cities. 2 Priests for 1 demon sounds to me as if the demon was nearly impotent. :)
There's no angels in the Exorcist though. I'm just not sure why "good" has to be so much weaker than evil. Evil is always kicking ass in these movies and the humans barely survive without much, if any help from above.
Even though that old priest guy in the Exorcist was trying to do good what did he get from it? Dead.
I did not say there were angels in the Exorcist. I was merely stating that demons were angels once - according to the stories.
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I don't think God is the kind of entity who would materialize and impregnate somebody. Wouldn't that be against his moral code?
But there are plenty of good films that uphold the force of good. Jesus of Nazareth. The DaVinci Code. Touched by an angel.
Well, if you go with Judeo-Christian mysticism then you could say that men is the force of good that goes up against evil. The demons appearing in these stories are never THE devil (which technically doesn't even exist if taken straight by religious texts) but simply devils...like a sort of antithesis to Gods creation.
God is said to never activelly interfere unless someone seriously screws up, he simply sets up the board and waits who is going to be succeeding in his eyes and who will give into temptation.
Most of these movies come out of a very common 20th century mindset that basically says, if God is alive he is pretty much a dick, if he's not a dick he must be gone. He set up this whole gameboard and simply watches us struggle against evil, temptation and our own weaknesses. That kind of pessimism fueled many of these novels and movies.
Because God is imaginary, if he is real he doesn't give two craps about a woman bearing a demon child, because well he let it happen to begin with, but anywho its a film either way.
shareHave you ever watched The Order with Heath Ledger? That was an interesting take on the good having all the powers and ridding evil. If not, give it a try. It turns the Exorcist on a dime.
shareThe people facing them are always just regular people with no idea what's going on. How come there's never a force of good that can do stuff too?